DELAND, Fla. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears scored six unanswered runs in the final three innings Thursday to rally past the Jacksonville Dolphins 10-7 and moved to the Pool B winner-take-all game on Friday night at Melching Field at Conrad Park.

The sixth-seeded Bears never led until the ninth inning when they scored three runs on just two hits against Jacksonville closer Isaac Williams. Senior center fielder Drew Sturgeon led off the inning with his third walk of the game and promptly stole second. Catcher Casey Shipley followed with another walk before third baseman Bryce Cermenelli was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Pinch hitter Hayden Seldomridge then broke the 7-7 tie with a sacrifice fly to center fielder, scoring Sturgeon. After another fly ball out, senior third baseman Mason King singled to right field to drive in his fourth run of the day that made it 9-7. Junior second baseman Tanner Leonard laid down a perfect bunt base hit to third base that scored Cermenelli with the final run.

"I thought the situational baseball was very good today," said UCA head coach Nick Harlan. "A very mature approach by our guys. I thought we got off to a good start on the mound with Charlie Christensen. It wasn't perfect, but competed very well. We were able to minimize a lot of situations.

"And think it was just a collective effort from the team. Just very, very mature. Sturgeon with a leadoff walk, he laid off some really tough pitches. And then Ship with the same thing, a great at-bat. And Cermenelli holds his ground on the bunt play and gets hit by a pitch.

"And then you had a two-strike at-bat from Hayden Seldomridge. That was huge at-bat, fresh off the bench. With two strikes, fights off and gets one he can elevate and puts one in the air. Then the base hit by King and then the drag bunt by Leonard. Guys just playing really good situational baseball."

In the bottom of the ninth, sophomore Hunter Alexander closed out the Bears' second victory in as many days with a ground out to first base and a pair of strikeouts. Alexander, who improved to 5-3 on the season, pitched the final 3.2 innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits and no runs.

"Hunter threw strikes with three pitches, and he was very confident in all three," said Harlan. "And you could see the confidence through the conviction on each pitch. And they just weren't getting a lot of good swings on him. He worked ahead in the count and made some great pitches when we needed him to."

The fifth-seeded Dolphins (26-30) took a 2-0 lead in the third inning but UCA came back with a pair of runs in the fourth on a two-run single by King with the bases loaded. Jacksonville, which had taken two of three games from UCA during the regular season in Conway, scored five runs in the fifth and sixth innings, while the Bears added two more in the sixth on two hits and a JU error. UCA got a pair of RBI groundouts from Kade Seldomridge and King.

UCA's scoring streak started with two runs in the seventh when Zeb Allen doubled to left field and eventually scored on Sturgeon's RBI single. On a Casey Shipley base hit, Sturgeon advanced to second and was then awarded third base on an interference call against the Jacksonville shortstop. That allowed Sturgeon to score on Cermenelli's ground ball to first and get the Bears within one at 7-6.

The Bears tied it in the eighth without a hit as Kade Seldomridge reached on an error, stole second, went to third on King's sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch.
 

"This game is about how you respond," said Harlan. "You know it's not going to be a perfect game, the tournament is not going to be perfect. But our team responded well to the ups and downs of the game and then gave ourselves a chance to win late."

UCA finished with 10 hits, including two apiece from Shipley, Cermenelli and King. UCA had two stolen bases, by Sturgeon and Kade Seldomridge to push their streak to 12 consecutive games with at least one stolen base.

"(King) just did a really good job," said Harlan. "I thought he was swinging at the right pitches."

UCA will play Jacksonville again at 6 p.m. (CST) Friday, with that winner advancing to Saturday's semifinals, along with the top three finishers in Pool A, which will be decided in Friday's two early games, with only Austin Peay having been eliminated. The three teams advancing are Stetson, Kennesaw State and Florida Gulf Coast.